They’re residing la dolce vita.
Toddlers at Lengthy Island’s solely Italian preschool program are fortunately buying and selling mixing Play-Doh for pizza dough — and the bilingual actions are so in style with the bambinos, adults are signing up, too.
“We’ve had households come from Queens — Rego Park, Howard Seaside… and as far east as Cutchogue,” mother and former instructor Catrina Percontino advised The Publish of her Per Tutti Language and Cultural Middle in St. James.
“We do purpose not less than 90% of the day to talk to them in Italian,” added the mother of three, who used to show the Romance language to excessive schoolers, and likewise Spanish on the center faculty stage.
Youngsters of assorted backgrounds additionally find out about Italian tradition, together with by rising a vegetable backyard with vegetation like zucchini and basil on the in style Suffolk County facility that opened in fall 2023.
Little ones enrolled at Per Tutti additionally get pleasure from play areas that mimic pizza kitchens and gelaterias — in addition to a prolonged bocce court docket within the yard.
“They love bocce now, it’s like bowling for them,” stated Percontino, who additionally concocted a child-friendly, flour-based dough combination that tots knead for enjoyable as an indoor exercise.
Final week, the little ones danced to songs concerning the legend of La Befana — the pleasant witch who pays good children a post-Christmas go to in early January — and obtained colourful instruction on Festa del Tricolore, higher referred to as Italian flag day.
The ragazzi are so eager to study the language that they independently rely down in Italiano on the swing set — and are introducing their dad and mom to the language as nicely.
“Even the quiet ones” can’t resist talking up round their households, stated Percontino, who sends out newsletters for the adults to maintain up.
“Now, they’ve a little bit little bit of assist at house to study with the youngsters,” she stated.
Grown-ups at Percontino’s separate mommy-and-me lessons have been swayed by the jovial kids’s applications to hitch her grownup night language and tradition programs.
“I’m telling you, the adults have, if not simply as a lot, extra enjoyable than the youngsters,” she stated.
“Not fake dough, however we do supply workshops the place we’ve made pasta fresca — recent pasta, tagliatelle, we’ve made gnocchi. We’ve additionally had a tiramisu workshop.”
Percontino, 38, stated she left instructing and took a leap of religion to open Per Tutti as a result of she was shocked to see so few Italian instructional facilities on the paisan proud island.
When planning subject journeys for her Italian college students, she needed to go all the way in which to Westchester to search out something appropriate.
“I began considering how, for my very own kids, I’d like to have a spot the place I could possibly be with different households, and my kids could possibly be uncovered to the language extra exterior the house,” Percontino stated.
Her two youngest, Alessandro, 4, and Elena, 2, are a part of the preschool program, whereas her eldest, Michael, 7, nonetheless will get loads of Italian at house.
Percontino’s yard is the place Per Tutti first started in summer season 2023.
The idea shortly expanded just like the Roman Empire to its present house throughout from St. James Elementary College, largely due to phrase of mouth.
Individuals even signed up after seeing Percontino enjoying along with her personal children in a library whereas talking Italian to them and watching how a lot enjoyable they’d.
Per Tutti is now so in style it has practically 8,000 Instagram followers.
“That is positively one of many hardest issues I’ve ever accomplished,” the proprietor stated.
“Probably the most troublesome, but in addition essentially the most rewarding.”
Even on tough days, the plethora of fogeys who love Per Tutti and its proprietor will let Percontino know, in Chazz Palminteri vogue, that now youse can’t depart.
“I’ve a very nice neighborhood of individuals right here, and so they’re not letting me quit,” she stated.
“So we’re going to maintain going, and we now have some huge plans for the long run.”
